Recent Forum Messages

Re:mylife.knowlist.com in beta

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:47:54 PDT

I just registered, and already I see a navigation improvement that would mean a lot to me: a preferences setting to state how many items/results per page--and also, maybe a "view results A-H, I-M, or N-Z", or some other alphabetical system.
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Re:What Supports Apollo?

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:22:12 PST

> it only takes 1000 KwH of energy to lift an average
> sized man out of the Earth's gravitational field

I guess this is a calculation of potential gravitational energy, which is given by the formula PE=mgh. This is the minimum theoretical ...

December 2007 Analog

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:03:33 PST

Hi all,

I do not see a thread for this issue (December 2007), so I shall deposit all my comments here. (If Geoff wishes to distribute them later, by story, that is fine with me.)

"Icarus Beach." A very human situation, almost an Action ...

Re:What Supports Apollo?

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 21:22:10 PDT

"The closing quote from the article is interesting and I have no idea what to make of it. Apparently Arthur C. Clarke calculated that it only takes 1000 KwH of energy to lift an average sized man out of the Earth's gravitational field. That's not ...

Re:What Supports Apollo?

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 21:21:07 PDT

a story that fit the times

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 00:34:01 PDT

This story is clearly a product of its times.

The initial setup is that some con men have escaped prison in a space ship and need to make a big hit so they have some money to start a new life.

One of them had overheard that a nearby planet had ...

a bit flimsy

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 00:21:58 PDT

This story is a bit flimsy in my opinion. It starts out with an alien officer making the mistake of ignoring some approaching humans in vehicle. The vehicle was described by the alien as "one of the natives' mechanical geese". It has a wings and a ...

can't review it

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 00:10:42 PDT

Sadly I can't review this story because I didn't read it. It is part 2 in a 3 part series and I don't have the December 1969 issue so I can't read part 1 yet.

colonies always kick ass

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 00:09:32 PDT

In this world we find that the Mars colonies are kicking ass while Earth has become a crime ridden totalitarian hell hole.

A martian colonist is called to Earth in order to claim an inheritance from his uncle. The colonist soon learns that there ...

Lunar Names

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:57:23 PDT

I was also interested to learn that there was a whole big thing about naming the lunar craters. The world had only recently seen the near side of the moon close up. They had only just seen the far side of the moon at all. Now there were numerous ...

Jan 1970 Star Trek

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:55:17 PDT

In 1970, Star Trek TOS apparently had just finished! Captain Picard was nowhere to be seen and tribbles were all the rage. Here is a quote from the first paragraph of the article:
[quote]"Star Trek" will apparently go down in history as the ...

Jan 1970 Books

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:54:14 PDT

There is an article about how to go about getting a book. It discusses how there is paperwork required to process orders and that it sometimes costs more than the purchase price of a book to to process an order for a single book. Apparently at the ...

What Supports Apollo?

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:53:31 PDT

This is a fantastic look at the Brobdingnagian proportions of the hardware required to launch Apollo astronauts into space. It's a fantastic look at the scale of the rockets and the buildings that house them and the fuel used. Even after so many ...

January 1970 editorial

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:51:22 PDT

The editorial is refreshingly non-PC. It certainly seemed to imply that there was a lot of strife going on in the 1970's. There's a lot of that sort of thing happening now, but it doesn't seem to me like it feels the same now as it would have seemed ...

January 1970

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:49:17 PDT

I decided to jump back in time and read the Jan 1970 issue of Analog. I was born in 1975, so I have only read about this time in history books. I wanted to see the type of stories that people were writing around the time of the moon landings.

...

more air bubble world adventures

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:57:03 PDT

The air bubble world is a great concept. It's right up there with ring worlds and Dyson spheres.

I'm not sure why it was so important to block radar in the bubble. Why is radar necessary for machine intelligences to enter the bubble?

I ...

those crazy physics professors

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:51:03 PDT

You have to watch out for those physics professors. You never know what laws of physics they might be using to mess things up.

When strange things happen in your office and there is a physic department nearby, you know who to blame.

This sort ...

so was it a virus or not?

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:43:03 PDT

So did a synesthasia-causing virus exist or not?

I liked the idea that messing with a person's inputs would result in differing types of creativity. It would probably be better if a person could switch such things on and off. One day they might ...

Wildlife on the moon

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:40:11 PDT

I enjoyed the idea of discovering a form of wildlife on the moon.

In particular I liked the ending where he increased the population of the wildlife. It made me wonder about the possibility of preserving species by making robots that look like ...

persecution of machine intellects

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:37:27 PDT

The main character is a crusader for massive reductions in the civil rights of machine intellects. He feels this way because he feels they are untrustworthy and may be plotting to take over.

Of course, when people in power oppress people they ...

Aliens need to be more careful

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:25:38 PDT

This is another great installment in Larry Niven's series of alien bar adventures. I've never been certain as to whether the bar is located on Earth or on the Moon. Does anyone know?

This one involves some aliens who were carrying around some ...

12 Monkeys

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:16:49 PDT

The protagonist reminded me of the bringer of doom in the movie "12 Monkeys".

It was a little unclear to me as to whether the skin changing viruses were causing her brain to short circuit or whether her brain was already messed up before she did ...

humans in animal bodies

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 19:08:25 PDT

This is another enjoyable mystery set in a world where humans sometimes put their brains into animals.

Personally, if I was going to put my brain into another body then I'd probably pick Goro from Mortal Combat. He had four arms, two legs, and a ...

So Newton could do no wrong?

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 18:59:02 PDT

It's my understanding that Newton's explorations of alchemy are regarded as one of his biggest wastes of time. It didn't lead to any new science. But, it's hardly fair to require that one person be correct 100% of the time.

Then again, when ...

I'm a sucker for these stories.

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 18:49:05 PDT

I'll be honest. I'm a sucker for stories like this. I was almost on the verge of tears when the ships started lining themselves up in the path of the ramjet just on the off chance that they might save the human race. It reminded me of the tear ...

enslaved brain in a box

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 18:42:31 PDT

This is a great premise for a series of stories. This story didn't have anything indicating that it was part of a multi-part series. But the ending felt pretty clearly like it was establishing a world in which future stories would occur.

I like ...

simple time travel tale

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 18:34:13 PDT

This is a nice little time travel tale involving bridges that people can just cross at will. I found it a little unbelievable that the FBI agent (or whoever he was) thought that a simple photograph was enough to guarantee that no cheating was ...

Re:narrative

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 18:27:13 PDT

Did the story actually say that the planet tilted on its side? If so, I can't imagine a physical event that could do that without destroying the planet entirely.

interstellar intrique

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:48:50 PDT

Enjoyed "Vertex." The authors have got the style and intrugue down pat, for this final (?) installation. Solid physics, as well. Glad to see that everything comes out well, in the end.
A few questions, in case the authors are in earshot.
In the ...

too many of me

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:47:57 PDT

"Stranger Things" is a fun romp. Great illustration, too.
I'd have liked to 'see' a bit more of the actual physics rescue, but that would've required a POV jump.

strange events

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:47:03 PDT

"Some Distant Shore" was good. We discussed the astrophysics previously. (On the Analog board.) I note that Linna's problem must've been 'built in,' and that she was lucky to have remained sane and functional for as long as she did. I like the ...

mystery emails?

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:46:22 PDT

"Palimpsest" was interesting, in a makes-you-think sort of way.
To be honest, even after reading it, I'm still not sure what the "God spam" said/looked like/etc. IMHO, it's neatly an anti-Singlarity tale, with the new spamblocker undoing what was ...

all aboard!

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:45:35 PDT

"Plutoid" was fun, and not at all what I'd thought it might be.
Reminds me of the many times a politician will, with much fanfare, inaugurate Amtrak service to a favored town -- only to have some nameless bureaucrat drop it again, months later.

narrative

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:45:01 PDT

I've discussed "Ginger Ear" a little, already. (On the Analog board.) Interesting, in that I did enjoy the . . . ahem . . . dramatic narrative style. Maybe it's just me, but I'm always trying to puzzle out the references. (As in: is "Aztlanian" the ...

these people need to hurry up more

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:47:31 PDT

If I were making observations about a planetary system that was about to be destroyed, I wouldn't sit around picking my nose and talking so much.

Those people should have been taking measurements, samples, and specimens round the clock. They ...

fun conclusion to a series

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:34:46 PDT

** SLIGHT SPOILERS **

This was a fun entry in the series on the Black Hole Project. It was nice to finally see it all come together, although I was a bit confused about what precisely they did to compensate for the offset of one of the rocks (the ...

strange nanotech disaster story

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 23:10:05 PDT

This is a strange nanotech disaster story that mixes in various religious encounters that reminded me a lot of the scenes from Contact where they go past all the religious nuts on the way to the first device.

I wasn't really sure what to take ...

kind of boring

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 19:52:02 PDT

Sorry, but I personally found this story to be rather boring. I guess it's because the entire story is done in the 3rd person and describes some difficult to decipher events. I gather that it's about how someone tried to genetically engineer ...

funny

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 19:38:41 PDT

This short story actually made me laugh out loud multiple times. I especially laughed at the line "Shuttle service is available for local transport, although transit time generally exceeds the average human lifespan. Please plan accordingly."

It ...

science lesson

Sun, 20 May 2007 00:51:48 PDT

This is a pretty extreme form of science fiction which contains very little fiction and vast quantities of science.

I found myself getting into it as I read it, but some parts were boring because they explained aspects of science that I was ...

the size of dreams

Sun, 20 May 2007 00:33:56 PDT

The editorial on the amount of storage to store dreams is a pretty shoot-from-the-hip sort of affair. The author makes various assertions about color and detail which are far greater than my own memories and dreams. His calculations might be ...

Re:where is everyone else?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:15:31 PDT

I thought the story was a good puzzle, but it was a bit too easy to figure out. Also, the men pressing into the cave despite all common sense and direct orders was not credible. At that point, I more or less gave up on the dramatic possibilities, ...

Re:scare dog?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:10:28 PDT

I also thought the guy was going to kill the dog, and the twist was very effective. This was an excellent story.

Re:bloody mindedness

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:08:54 PDT

This was a strong story. While the protag's character was not highly developed, the implant was fascinating. I actually was more interested in that than in the cutting edge Titan science.

Re:So, anybody home?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 07:07:16 PDT

Thought I would try this out. Have Been Looking around Analogsf.com and saw your link. The Horizontal Width seems to be excessive in the reply field??? Good Luck on Your Venture Dave

Re:terrorists are not nice people

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:31:35 PDT

Good points but I don't think the policewoman would've known anything sharp was nearby if the grandfather hadn't secretly been with her. And I suppose she could've simply whispered to the kid to close her eyes. The situation did seem a bit ...

mind infection

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:07:41 PDT

I liked this one. It was quick and fun and actually seems plausible once you accept that a bacterial infection could carry that much information. That's not such an easy thing to accept, but given my limited bio knowledge, I guess I can swallow it.
...

terrorists are not nice people

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:02:36 PDT

I liked the story, but it was somewhat unsatisfying in some ways.

For one, I am skeptical that a reasonably smart bad guy would tape up someone's hands and then put them near something sharp that they could use to cut their bonds. If there's a ...

scare dog?

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:50:13 PDT

Do scarecrows really work? I did some quick searches and it sounds like they only work in the short term. Perhaps the dog just killed all the crows?

I put ant traps in my house and they didn't do crap. But, when I took some ant spray and sprayed ...

where is everyone else?

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:44:45 PDT

It was a nice little story, but it didn't explain why the device wasn't used more.

What about the information from Zhukov? Didn't he tell his commanders that it was a time travel device? If that information got out they'd have investigators up ...